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Blood in stool

DD2 has been having blood in her stool the past 4 days. When I first saw it, I took her to the doctor and he said it was am anal fissure tear. Shes only 3mos, not on solids or anything other than breastmilk so she isnt straining which I would think would cause a tear. Anyways he said if it wasn't better in 3 days to come back as it could be something else. So next 2 days nothing, then on day 3 which was last night more blood. More than the first time. Took her back to doc today, I saw 2 more doctors and one said to cut out dairy and see if that helps, other one said don't and just wait ans see how she is. I have an OALD but no oversupply. Talked to an LC a few weeks ago.

Re: Blood in stool

How much blood are you seeing? Streaks or specks, or larger blobs? Is the blood bright red, on the surface of the poop, or more mixed into the poop? Is baby otherwise healthy, happy, and gaining weight?

If an anal fissure has been ruled out, then you're down to the puzzling oversupply vs. allergy problem. If you have OALD, you may have some degree of oversupply, and that means your baby is getting so much lactose (milk sugar) that her digestive system can't produce enough lactase enzyme to break it all down. Too much lactose getting into the intestines will cause a lot of gas and irritation, and sometimes you'll get so much irritation that there will be bleeding in the gut.

If this is an allergy/intolerance, then dairy protein is the most likely culprit. Eliminating major dairy (milk, cheese, butter, ice cream ) for a few days may be enough to produce an improvement in your LO's poop. But some moms must eliminate ALL dairy- and this can be difficult because dairy is hidden in so many things, including baked goods and deli meats!- for a period of weeks before they will see an improvement. And there's no guarantee that the problem is dairy- proteins from wheat, soy, and other allergens can also produce intestinal bleeding.

Again, none of these possibilities are life-threatening or health-threatening in an otherwise healthy baby! The only things I would be careful about are one, iron, and two, solids. If the bloody poops continue, my personal feeling (not backed up by research) is that it makes sense to offer a daily, iron-containing multivitamin. I figured that if my kid was losing iron through her intestines, it made sense to offer her a supplement. And if you suspect that your child has some sort of allergy, you want to be cautious as she gets into solids because food allergic kids can react to more than one thing.